The large block of text Chun Mian saw before opening the door summarized the general plot of the dimension she was about to enter. As the pampered darling, Gao Anna was doted on her entire life and naturally never experienced any hardships. Recalling the few ultimate villains mentioned at the end of the text, Chun Mian figured the woman standing before her was likely one of them. As the memories flooded into her mind, she understood everything.
The person whose life she was going to take over and fulfill was Gao Anna's bad-tempered, selfish sister-in-law, Wei Shumei.
"This is a bit exciting," Chun Mian smiled upon seeing her new identity. A villain? She actually liked that quite a lot.
"I want to leave that home where I sacrificed my whole life without ever receiving a single word of gratitude. I want to work hard and build a better career than Gao Anna. I've completely seen through that den of ungrateful wretches. If it weren't for the children..." The memories and Wish Power were transmitted together. When it was over, Wei Shumei leaned exhaustedly against the door, gave a tragic smile, and spoke in a low voice.
From Gao Anna's perspective, the story only showed how she was loved by her mother and doted on by her brother. But from Wei Shumei's perspective, all she saw was how this younger girl leeched off the whole family. Even Wei Shumei, who had married into the family, was bled dry by her for years. After all those years of being used, she never received a single word of gratitude—only being branded as bad-tempered and selfish. Wei Shumei had completely given up hope.
"Don't worry. Since I've taken your Wish Power, I will naturally live your life well," Chun Mian reassured her. Then, feeling a bit uneasy, she asked the Door Spirit, "Are you sure there's no problem with this door?"
The Door Spirit had previously explained that Chun Mian would enter physically. However, upon passing through, the door would automatically transform her appearance into that of the wish-maker, eliminating any possibility of her cover being blown. Still, Chun Mian was truly uneasy about this rundown door. But the new identity and the Soul Converter offered in the entity's shop were simply too tempting. A change of identity was highly alluring to her, and Chun Mian felt she could hardly restrain her eager little feet.
"Don't worry, you can trust me to handle things. Shall I close the door now?" Seeing that Chun Mian had already stepped one foot inside, the Door Spirit patted its peeling wooden frame and promised.
Chun Mian felt like a desperate gambler at a dead end. If she lost, she might open her eyes to find herself in some unknown black hole. But if she won... At that thought, Chun Mian took a large stride forward, and her entire figure completely disappeared behind the door.
WHOOSH!
The moment she crossed over, Chun Mian felt a sudden gust of sharp wind aiming straight for the top of her head. Her survival instincts kicked in, making her dodge to the side. She smoothly snatched up what felt like a wooden object and intercepted the incoming attack.
BAM!
"AWOOO!" This mournful shriek sounded just like the mutated Snow Wolf she had encountered during her adventures on the Eighty-one Stars. Could she have somehow landed back on the Eighty-one Stars? Astonished, Chun Mian snapped her eyes open.
"Oh my, the daughter-in-law is bullying people! Is there no justice in this world!" The first thing Chun Mian saw when she opened her eyes was a middle-aged woman in blue clothes, holding a half-grown child in her arms, screaming at the top of her lungs with a fierce expression.
Thanks to Wei Shumei's memories, Chun Mian quickly realized what part of the story this was. Wei Shumei had been married for over a year when she finally got pregnant. But she took a fall in the backyard field and lost the baby before her third month. Worried about their daughter, Wei Shumei's maiden family had brought over thirty eggs, two catties of brown sugar, and two boxes of walnut pastries to help her recover. However, before Wei Shumei could even take a single bite, her mother-in-law—Gao Anna's biological mother, Old Mrs. Gao—barged into her room and snatched all the food away.
"My Fubao has lost weight recently, and she has no appetite. These are for Fubao to nourish her body. When you fell the other day, you terrified her," Mrs. Gao said with total self-righteousness.
After all, she had done similar things plenty of times in the past. Not a single bite of the provisions provided by Wei Shumei's maiden family had ever actually made it into her own mouth. In the past, she had kept quiet because she didn't want to cause unrest in the household. Moreover, the man she married would always look at her with pleading eyes and say, "My mother has had a hard life; she was widowed at a young age. And my sister has it hard, too; our father died right after she was born. Please, be understanding of them, alright? I'll treat you well."
Back then, Wei Shumei was still young. She hadn't yet been ground down by the endless wretched affairs that were to come, nor had she become paranoid and terrifying. Whenever her husband coaxed her, her heart would soften, and the matter would be dropped.
However, this time was different. Because she had lost her child, Wei Shumei had been stubbornly kicking up a fuss. As a result, Gao Jianmin, the seemingly honest and wooden man, actually raised his hand and slapped Wei Shumei, then grabbed a fire poker to beat her. Wei Shumei was beaten unconscious. By the time she woke up, the food had long been locked inside Old Mrs. Gao's cabinet. Wanting it back was utterly impossible! Afterward, Gao Jianmin kept apologizing to Wei Shumei, saying he was wrong, that he shouldn't have hit her, and that he was a beast. Wei Shumei's heart softened again, and the incident was swept under the rug once more.
Then came the loss of her second child, following roughly the same routine. Although her third and fourth children survived, they ultimately became Gao Anna's servants. When Gao Anna ate meat, they couldn't even get a sip of the broth; they could only smell the aroma. Every day, Gao Anna wore clean little dresses, used the most popular vanishing cream and face powder from the county town, ate refined grains, and always had pockets full of various snacks.
As for Wei Shumei's two children, the boy was raised roughly, but what about the girl? She didn't even qualify for Gao Anna's cast-off clothes. She wore rags every day, and her face was so chapped it peeled layer after layer. They couldn't even afford a cheap tin of clam oil for her skin. Let alone snacks, being able to eat a mouthful of wild vegetable steamed bread on a normal day was considered lucky.
How did Wei Shumei turn from a seemingly docile girl into a selfish, bad-tempered monster later on? She was forced by life. Who wasn't an innocent, sweet girl in their youth? It was life that ground her down into that state. If she didn't fight and grab, she and her two children would have starved to death! But when she did fight and grab, all she received in the end was the label of a "monstrous sister-in-law."
But why? All her useful items and delicious food had been snatched away by Old Mrs. Gao to feed Gao Anna. Yet, when it was her turn to fight for her own well-being, they all conveniently forgot about the things they had stolen from her. They suffered from selective amnesia while continuously cursing her as a monster.
In Wei Shumei's eyes, the entire Gao family was a den of monsters, leeching off others' blood without knowing a shred of gratitude! Recalling the deep resentment Wei Shumei had when transmitting these memories, Chun Mian couldn't fully empathize. But since she was here to help fulfill the mission, she naturally wouldn't let things slide without a fight like Wei Shumei once did.
"How exactly am I bullying you? Tell me. The brown sugar and walnut pastries are right here, and so are the eggs. My mother brought these to help me recover. I just lost my child, and my body is incredibly weak. My mother felt sorry for me and brought me these things, but you barged in, grabbing and snatching, and now you have the nerve to say I'm bullying you?" Watching Old Mrs. Gao prepare to make a scene, and Gao Jianmin, who was both hurt and dazed from her counterattack, Chun Mian let out a cold sneer and retorted.